Organ Pipe - Animals

We heard some coyotes in Organ Pipe, but didn't see anything. Most of the animal life we saw was rather small, beginning with this Walking Stick, which is quite hard to discern from a twig.




We saw several western fence lizards, fairly small, perhaps eight inches nose to tail. Still have not seen a Gila Monster in the wild!

This common garter snake approached Joanie when she sat down along the trail to remove a stone from her boot. She was glad it wasn't poisonous. We've not seen an active rattlesnake since November in Joshua Tree, and we're hoping they will continue to slumber for another month or two.

A curve billed thrasher on our campsite grill ...

A red tailed hawk prepares to take off from it's perch atop a Saguaro Cactus...

One of those non-native species, we came across these in the campground. I figure these flamingos may have spent some time in Colorado, since they seem to have developed a taste for Coors beer ...

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

We headed south from Tonapah down into Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. January's full moon rose over the Ajo mountains. This moonrise is the largest and brightest of the year, because the moon is at it's closest to earth this month. We spent two weeks in Organ Pipe. Its' a great place to be in January!

Here's a view of the campground from a hill to the west. We're camped in the center of the campground.

I found these water bottles at moonrise on a hill overlooking the campground. They're tied together with rope so they can be readily carried. I'm not certain why they were painted black. Perhaps the illegals they belong to were planning to come down after dark to get some water from the camp.

A ranger named Kris Eggle was killed by illegals in Organ Pipe on August 9th, 2002. When my daughter Elise and I were there earlier that year, we saw several illegals entering the country in the remote south western corner of the Monument. The problem has become so bad that several sections of the Monument are now closed to the American public. While we were there, one of President Bush's final executive orders became effective. This order now allows concealed carry permit holders to legally carry our weapons in a National Park or Monument. I carried my pistol on every hike we made in Organ Pipe.

This is the view from inside an old mine building on one of our hikes. The trails are closed to the American public past this point due to safety concerns. We saw several parties of illegals that were captured during our two week visit. The border patrol is quite active here.

Tonopah - Petroglyphs and Hot Springs

We spent several days in the desert west of Phoenix. On the Gila River south of the Buckeye Hills we found many petroglyphs on boulders marking the top of what may have been the ancient river bank.

We camped at El Dorado Hot Springs and enjoyed the waters and good people that we met there. We seem to meet the great folks when soaking at hot springs, and El Dorado was no exception. On New Years evening Joanie and I took the cold plunge to renew our membership in the Polar Bear Club. We met Dave, Lisa and Lisa, they joined us in taking the plunge. Not quite as cold as Boulder Reservoir, but the contrast between the hot and cold pools was significant. Dave and his wife Lisa were just passing through, but we got to enjoy single Lisa's company during several soaking sessions. We also enjoyed visiting with Bill next door at Casa Blanca Hot Springs. Bill and Camilla developed El Dorado, then sold it to the current owners several years ago.

The Route from Post Falls, ID to Scottsdale, AZ

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Christmas in Scottsdale

Joan and I were very fortunate to spend Christmas with my sister Katie, her family and good friends in Scottsdale, AZ. On Christmas Eve, after dinner, their tradition is to construct awesome ginger bread houses. Competition is intense. I understand that the judges can't be bribed. I wisely chose to not compete. My niece Rebecca (in green) did convince her friend to compete and he did a much better job than I would have the first time out of the chute.

Christmas day featured the usual frenzy of unwrapping gifts. Here Joanie managed to get all the kids together, from left to right: Gaelyn Rebecca, Erinn, Parker and Jessica. Gaelyn is the daughter of Katie's good friend Lois.

Jessica's two pugs were specially groomed for Christmas. That's Bruce on the left and Buttercup on the right.

Katie's husband John and Parker take their ping pong seriously!

It was kinda tough getting the fifth wheel backed down the drive way behind the gates. We pruned two trees on the way in, then, with John's expert spotting assistance, we managed to tuck it in. It sure was easier to pull it out when we left!

Death Valley - Geology

Death Valley is raw geology on display. The mountain ranges rise on the east and the on the west while the valley floor sinks between them. This is the view from Aguereberry Point late on Solstice afternoon. We stand at about 6000 feet, roughly the same as the opposing range. The valley floor is almost 300 feet below sea level.

We four-wheeled into Hole in the Wall before dawn on the morning after Solstice night. Here we're looking west towards Telescope Peak and Aguereberry Point.

Ubehebe volcanic crater on the north end of Death Valley is about 600 feet deep.

Until this point, I figured it'd take a submarine to get me this far below sea level!

Artist's drive at sunset.

Zabriskie Point at sunrise.

Death Valley - Solstice

The shortest day of the year dawned into a cloudless sky. We began the day by visiting some faint petroglyphs below Skidoo road. This is where we first hit the snow that would shape our day.






These charcoal kilns were the primary goal of the day. After getting the truck stuck in about 1 foot of snow, I aired down and chained up the rear end. We were then able to continue up the road to the kilns. 10 of these kilns were built to provide charcoal to a nearby mill. In just a few years they completely consumed all the available wood in the area and shutdown.




The smell of wood smoke still lingers in the kilns after nearly 100 years.

Joanie filled an insulated silver bag with snow she wanted to take back to our camp on the valley floor in Furnace Creek. (Melinda, this is the bag you gave us over Thanksgiving!)

The day's tour ended with a touch and go drive up to Aguereberry Point. Snow in the S curves of the canyon we climbed to the point was deep enough to give me second thoughts on attempting the drive. Since there was no room to turn around, we had no choice but to keep going and not get stuck! We made it. Magnificent views from the point can be had of the valley floor and distant mountain ranges.

Joanie made a snowthing on our picnic table at Furnace Creek, complete with charcoal features, plastic utensil crown and LED lights. We heard passing children oohh and aahh at the thing, wondering where the snow came from!

This longest night offered great star gazing. I could feel the sweep of the seasonal wheel, Orion rising in the east, Cassiopea over head, Cygnus setting in the west, each of them following the ancient path of the Milky Way across the sky.